It's a Great Feeling (1949)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

Jack Rose (screenplay) and
Melville Shavelson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 August 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A waitress at the Warner Brothers commissary is anxious to break into pictures. She thinks her big break...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Film Making | Studio | Hollywood

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Dennis Morgan	...	Himself
Doris Day	...	Judy Adams
Jack Carson	...	Himself
Bill Goodwin	...	Arthur Trent
Irving Bacon	...	RR Information Clerk
Claire Carleton	...	Grace
Mazzone-Abbott Dancers	...	Dancers (as The Famous Mazzone-Abbott Dancers)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Both William H. O'Brien and William J. O'Brien appear in this film (uncredited) saloon waiters.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Words and Music (1948)

Soundtrack:

There's Nothing Rougher than Love

Clever and witty self-referential spoof about Hollywood

Without a doubt, classic Hollywood made some great musicals. This film is not one of them. And, there have been much better comedies from Tinsel Town also.

The distinguishing and saving features of this bit of frippery are two fold: first, you'll go a long way before finding another film with so many uncredited cameo appearances by major studio stars of the time (only Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 days, made in 1956, comes even close); and second, this is a snappy and self-referential send-up of the perils and pleasures of working in Hollywood.

The downside is this: if you were born after 1960, you probably won't appreciate the cameos by the actors and directors mainly because they'd gone from the scene – duh – by the time you started going to movies. But, on the upside…well, if you liked Robert Altman's The Player (1992), then this movie may appeal also.

The story, of course, is hackneyed: girl, working as a waitress (Doris Day), wants to get into movies, meets struggling director (Jack Carson) whom nobody likes, but who just happens to have a big-time singing star (Dennis Morgan) ready to help...

Good grief – David Lynch turned that short plot synopsis into a horror movie called Mulholland Drive (2001), minus the cameos – but not the singing. How about that?

Anyhow, back to the dilemmas of Doris...

Okay, the story sucks but the dialog is great and Jack Carson was always the guy to deliver perfect one-liners perfectly. I lost count of the number of times the dialog poked fun at every aspect of Hollywood life. And, the sight gags with the many and varied cameos are spot on, the standout performances coming from Gary Cooper, Edward G. Robinson and – how could anybody miss her? – Joan Crawford. And, look, if like me you don't like Dennis Morgan's singing, just turn off the sound for a minute or two and grab your next beer from the cooler.

And, for the record, the cameos I recognized are: Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Micheal Curtiz, Errol Flynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Danny Kaye, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh and Jane Wyman.

Now, after you've seen this very syrupy and mild expose of Hollywood life – but it's a lot of fun – take the time to see what it's really like with Lynch's little plot of horrors, mentioned above.